Mayor, Superintendent appealing for support of summer jobs for teens

(3/3/2006) Mayor John DeStefano, Jr. and Superintendent of Schools Dr. Reginald Mayo joined business and community leaders and state and local elected officials at a kickoff appeal for Youth@ Work on Friday, March 3, 2006, 1 p.m. in New Haven City Hall.

The City aspires to double the number of summer jobs available to teens this year, to 1,000 jobs. “Last summer, Youth @ Work was able to employ 470 youth between the ages of 13 and 18 for five weeks. But we had to turn 1,300 deserving students away because of a lack of appropriate funding support,” the Mayor said. “Federal and state funding has steadily diminished, but the need and the value of teens at work remains acute. Our goal this summer is to double the number of youth employed. We can’t do it without the help of the entire community and that’s what Friday’s appeal is all about.”

A business or organization wishing to donate or pledge to hire teens for the summer, may call Stephanie Barnes, Project Coordinator of Youth @ Work for the City of New Haven, at 946-7582. Information about the program is available at www.youthatwork.biz

Also at Friday’s program, several students talked about the value of having a part-time job. They included:

Charlette Gore, of Hill Regional Career High School; Jose Crespo, Wilbur Cross; Rollesscia Hurd-Rosa, Wilbur Cross; Anika Castell, Hillhouse; and Justin Augustine, Hill Regional Career. State Rep. Toni Walker and Alderwoman Maria Reyes-Rivera spoke about the importance of work for young people, as did Douglas Hedley, vice president of UBS Financial Services, Inc. and Alvin Johnson of Yale-New Haven Hospital.

Youth @ Work - the region’s workplace youth development program for the last 25 years - helps provide New Haven youth, ranging in age from 14-19, with career development activities, work readiness training, paid internships and financial literacy fundamentals. Youth@Work is a public-private partnership of the City of New Haven, the New Haven Board of Education, Workforce Alliance, the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce and Empower New Haven, Inc. For more information, visit www.youthatwork.biz - END -

This is a list of the latest funders for Youth @ Work:

The Youth @ Work Partnership is proud to announce that the following businesses have stepped forward and have pledged support for summer and year round jobs for teens:

AT&T

Regional Water Authority

Empower New Haven, Inc.

Housing Authority of the City of New Haven

Yale-New Haven Hospital

UBS Foundation USA (UBS Financial Services, Inc.)

Many more sponsors are needed to either pledge monetary support or to agree to hire young people this summer, in order to reach the goal of affording 1,000 teens the opportunity to work this summer.

To Find Out More About HIRING OR SPONSORING youth to work this summer, please contact:

Contact Information: Stephanie Barnes, Program Coordinator

165 Church Street

New Haven, CT 06510

(203) 946-7582

sbarnes@newhavenct.net > www.youthatwork.biz

Youth @ Work is a public-private partnership of the City of New Haven, Workforce Alliance, the New Haven Board of Education, the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce and Empower New Haven established to provide youth ages 14-19 with year-round employment opportunities, career development activities and work readiness skills to succeed in the world of work and in life.